Truth Matters.

Class review: Creative performance

The following is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Clarion, its staff or the institution. If you would like to submit a response or an opinion piece of your own, please contact Editor in Chief Abby Petersen at ajp87848@bethel.edu.

It’s great to take a class just for fun, but for those of you who want a higher purpose, there is one.

By Beret Leone

I took creative performance (THA100NA), first semester of my freshmen year—mostly because I had no idea what area of studies I wanted to pursue—and, to this day, it’s one my favorite classes I’ve ever taken at Bethel. I spent every other morning on my feet, playing games, being creative and laughing.

The course is a basic acting class and covers the motivation behind a character, how to warm up, what goes into reading a script and beyond. My favorite unit of the class was improvisation. If you’ve ever watched “Whose Line Is It Anyway,” it gives you an opportunity to think on your feet and goof around like they do.

When I took creative performance, it was taught by theatre professor Brent Adams. However, the class itself goes through rotation between the three theatre arts professors. Adams has been on The Guthrie Theatre stage, is an original playwright, and is a big fan of silly voices.

It’s great to take a class just for fun, but for those of you who want a higher purpose, there is one. Creative performance knocks out two general education requirements: the artistic (A) tag, and the nature of persons (N) tag, all in one swoop.

Don’t let fear or lack of theatre knowledge hold you back. In my class alone, there were a variety of majors; from business, education and yes, some like me, undecided. It’s not going to be the first or the last time you’ll have to speak (or in this case, act) in front of group of people, so why not get practice for it in a creative and judgement free environment?

In all honesty, it’s a class that won’t break the GPA, hits two birds with one stone and a has a guarantee of laughter at some point in the semester—even if you have a little stage fright.